Serving Both Oneself And The Greater Good?

The Christian Science Monitor’s piece on the MBA Oath brings up a student’s questioning of whether “serving the greater good” is compatible with capitalism.

Such dialogue highlights “a deep fundamental difference about what the purpose of the corporation is and whether it has any responsibility to society other than maximizing profits,” says Rakesh Khurana…It will take this kind of pressure, he says, for business schools to shift curriculum and practices to emphasize different values.

The MBA Oath is based upon the idea that self-interest is an important driver of capitalism, but that it is not incompatible with having a responsibility to different stakeholders and to society at large. The intent isn’t to force a binary choice between raw individualism and collectivisim, but to encourage the acknowledgement of broader responsibilities.